disco man
27th November 2014, 07:49 PM
Article by Michael Serenc.
Sailors young and old gathered to send off the RAN's last three landing craft in a decommissioning ceremony at HMAS Cairns. Tears were shed and tales aplenty were told as the men who served aboard HMAS Brunei,HMAS Labuan and HMAS Tarakan paid tribute to the ships,known as the workhorse of the fleet. Brunei senior technical officer Chief Petty Officer Mark Flynn and Tarakan boatswain's mate AB Thomas Rutter said they would greatly miss their time at sea with each landing craft. "Its probably been the best posting in my 26 years of service," CPO Flynn said. "I've worked with a lot of teams in that time and this is the tightest team I've worked with. Everyone gets on so well,they get in and get the work done." AB Rutter has served aboard Tarakan for three of his four years in the navy. "I've loved every minute of it," he said. The highlight for me was last year during operation 'Render Safe' in the Soloman Islands. We destroyed old explosive ordinance from WWII." Known officially as "Landing Craft Heavy" in navy circles,the Balikpapan class vessels have played an invaluable role in delivering humanitarian aid to remote Pacific Islands,as well as transporting military equipment.
Former commanding officer of Tarakan Rod Dudfield,who has his son christened aboard the ship,recalled fond memories during his tenure in the early 1980's. "We did a number of relatively lengthy deployments at about three months at a time," he said. "We went to Indonesia as part of 'Operation Cenderawasih" with the Royal Australian Survey Corps....I was delivering fuel to outlying islands which weren't charted. "We had a ship's company of 13 and were like a family." The futures of HMAS Brunei and Hmas Tarakan remain uncertain after decommissioning. HMAS Labuan will be gifted to the Papua New Guinea Defence Maritime Element as a training ship.
Sailors young and old gathered to send off the RAN's last three landing craft in a decommissioning ceremony at HMAS Cairns. Tears were shed and tales aplenty were told as the men who served aboard HMAS Brunei,HMAS Labuan and HMAS Tarakan paid tribute to the ships,known as the workhorse of the fleet. Brunei senior technical officer Chief Petty Officer Mark Flynn and Tarakan boatswain's mate AB Thomas Rutter said they would greatly miss their time at sea with each landing craft. "Its probably been the best posting in my 26 years of service," CPO Flynn said. "I've worked with a lot of teams in that time and this is the tightest team I've worked with. Everyone gets on so well,they get in and get the work done." AB Rutter has served aboard Tarakan for three of his four years in the navy. "I've loved every minute of it," he said. The highlight for me was last year during operation 'Render Safe' in the Soloman Islands. We destroyed old explosive ordinance from WWII." Known officially as "Landing Craft Heavy" in navy circles,the Balikpapan class vessels have played an invaluable role in delivering humanitarian aid to remote Pacific Islands,as well as transporting military equipment.
Former commanding officer of Tarakan Rod Dudfield,who has his son christened aboard the ship,recalled fond memories during his tenure in the early 1980's. "We did a number of relatively lengthy deployments at about three months at a time," he said. "We went to Indonesia as part of 'Operation Cenderawasih" with the Royal Australian Survey Corps....I was delivering fuel to outlying islands which weren't charted. "We had a ship's company of 13 and were like a family." The futures of HMAS Brunei and Hmas Tarakan remain uncertain after decommissioning. HMAS Labuan will be gifted to the Papua New Guinea Defence Maritime Element as a training ship.